Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Last night, I went to a shiur (Torah class) in honor of my friend's mother, who passed away suddenly, a year ago, from lung cancer.

The shiur was given by a neighbor and friend, AK, who just returned from three years of shlichut (serving as an emissary) to the Jewish community in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

He dedicated the class both to my friend's mother and to all our soldiers, who are fighting in dangerous enemy territory.

There is no where you can go without talking or thinking of the war. (our good friend is live blogging the war here) Many of our friends and our friends' sons are serving in the army or have been called up from the reserves. (read my friend's moving blog about her soldier son here)

Other friends are living under daily bombardment. Some have chosen to take refuge with family or friends in other "safer" areas of the country. Most of our friends do not want to leave their homes. (you can read about how my friend from Be'er Sheva is dealing with the situation here) One friend, who lives in Ashdod, recently wrote to us:

I am afraid to say that we were lucky, since you don't know whatwill happen next, but the apt on the 9th floor you've seen on TVtoday, which was hit by a Kassam [rocket], is next to our building.

My son was home at the time and he didn't even hear the siren,only the boom. We live in a 2 story bld. Fortunately we don'tappear to have any damage to our house."

Let us hope for a quieter next few days or weeks.

At the end of the shiur, it was inevitable that someone would ask the speaker if he received a "call up" to serve in the army. (All Israeli men are in the reserves until they turn 50. Every year, they spend a month in the army, practicing and retraining.) Apparently, the army felt that three years was too long to be away. "My entire unit has been called up, except me," he explained, adding "I am not too comfortable with that."

To which, one of the women in the shiur responded, "I bet your wife is!"

You asked....

Israel Time

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Cancer History in 3 sentences or less:

Diagnosed with DCIS (stage ZERO breast cancer) at age 39 (June 2005). Three surgeries and 2 years later (July 2007)... I became a statistical anomaly: breast cancer mysteriously metastasized to my bones, liver and lungs. 2 years later (July 2009), we discovered metastases in my brain.